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With the decline of corporate pensions and the aging U.S. population putting stress on the Social Security system, the burden of saving and planning for retirement falls increasingly on individuals. This is especially...

As a wee tyke, my Dad took me to College Town Barber Shop where Vernon Whitlock gave me my first haircut. Until I was 12, it was the place where I got every haircut.
Mr. Vernon was Dad’s barber, though I never really understood why. By the time I...

Summer has officially begun and we all know what that means — family vacations.
Two-week adventures are not all there is to the summer months, and if you plan carefully, there are several locations right here in Lincoln Parish that can offer your...

While Juneteenth is a celebration of the enslaved becoming free, it feels much bigger than that.
Time travel to any point in history and try to find a significant amount of time where the average African American did not face some sort of hardship....

One year ago this month, Ruston’s Board of Aldermen decided to spend $50,000 to hire a local engineering firm to create and maintain a web page specifically designed for residents to be able to keep track of the progress of Moving Ruston Forward...

As a parent, one of the things we strive to instill in our children is a good work ethic. We know that it is important to start this training early with age-appropriate tasks.
We might assign them “chores” to do around the house or we might...

Summer vacation used to fill me with such a sense of excitement.
The next few months lay ahead, filled with endless possibilities for fun and freedom. For working parents, however, the summer holds specific challenges, namely planning safe,...

His NFL address may have changed a couple of time zones, but Andrew Whitworth has the same role.
For the former West Monroe High and LSU All-American, it’s still all about continuing as one of the most respected elder statesmen in the league for...

It is no secret that texting and driving is a problem. It’s something that a lot of us are guilty of, myself included.
According to the state Department of Motor Vehicles website, Louisiana has a statewide ban on “the use of wireless devices for...

It’s not just the sky being the limit for a new press box/luxury suites that will stretch from one end of Lincoln Parish to the outer fringes of Jackson Parish.
Excuse the exaggeration, but such is what prompts us members of the ink-stained...

I was recently going through pictures on my phone and ran across some I took while in Memphis last year.
It was the opening of the Guest House at Graceland where Tom and I had VIP seats to all kinds of extraordinary events. Being the music freak I...

While the Louisiana Legislature’s failing to pass a budget for the upcoming fiscal year was what Gov. John Bel Edwards deemed “an epic failure in leadership,” forcing a special session to be called, state lawmakers did do some good during the...

I was born late in my parent’s lives. So late, in fact, that my mother was a grandmother before I came along, a fact that made me an uncle the instant I was born.
Both my parents were married before they became Mr. and Mrs. Rainwater, and each had...

It is not unusual in Ruston to see cyclists either on the road, or on the sidewalk beside the road.
Recently, the city opened the first segment of the Rock Island Greenway shared-use path in which cyclists and pedestrians are welcome to use anytime...

When Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House, the two generals did not speak on their legacy. No, they “awkwardly conversed” about their brief meeting during the Mexican-American War...

For years, communities around the country have been experimenting to find the best ways to help people who are diagnosed with mental health issues live balanced, healthy and meaningful lives.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one...

Daniel Erspamer is moving back to Louisiana from Tennessee in hopes of helping convince the Bayou State to accept conservative principles.
On the surface, that shouldn’t be too hard, given the current dysfunction in Baton Rouge.
But first, the...

I have always had a plan for my life. I was going to move away from home, graduate from college and then get a job that would take me out of Louisiana and allow me to travel.
Recently, I have learned that not everything goes as planned. No matter...

If there’s a more ideal spot for birds in North Louisiana than Minden’s Turner’s Pond; I’d like to see it. On any given day you can see mallards, Canadian geese, white ducks, crested ducks and egrets.
I’m by means no bird expert; but I’ve been...